Visual representations help students develop conceptual understanding and procedural fluency. Teachers incorporate visual representations into their instruction to model new concepts, help students move from concrete to abstract understanding, and provide a strategy for translating word problems into numerical statements. Both teachers and students interact with visual representations, which can include number lines, area models, nets, arrays, and a variety of other visual displays.
Field Guide Alignments: Mathematics, Principle 4, Practice 1; Principle 7, Practices 1-3
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Learn about the strategy


Online PD module
Developed by Annenberg Foundation

Professional development tool
Doing What Works

Practice guide
Developed by Institute of Education Sciences

Online article
Developed by Center for Implementing Technology in Education
VIDEOS
See the strategy in action


Overview for teachers
Developed by Doing What Works

Demo lessons using number lines
Developed by the Teaching Channel

Demo lesson using multiple visual representations
Developed by the Teaching Channel
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Use the strategy



Instructions and reproducible templates
Developed by MSMI

6th grade geometry lesson plan
Developed by AIR

Virtual manipulatives online
Developed by Utah State University